Weather News

NSW, WA, Qld soar to 45°C as Tas hits 30°C

Anthony Sharwood, Wednesday November 6, 2024 - 17:01 AEDT

It was a mid-spring scorcher out there in parts of every Australian state and territory this Wednesday afternoon, as an extremely hot airmass spread across the country.

The NSW outback town of White Cliffs (population approx. 150) in the state’s northwest corner hit 45.1°C just before 4 pm AEDT. That was 1.8 degrees shy of the November state record of 46.9°C set at Smithville (a homestead near the SA border) in 2020, but it was still extremely hot for the first week of November.

Queensland also passed the 45-degree mark, with the mercury reaching 45.1°C at Thargomindah in the state's southwest corner.

Port Hedland in WA’s Pilbara joined the 45.1°C club just before 2pm local time, and several other locations in the Kimberley and Pilbara forecast districts could top 45°C as the afternoon progresses.

South Australia couldn't quite breach the 45-degree mark, although it got warm enough at Moomba in the state's northeast with a top of 44.5°C.

It’s likely that the Northern Territory also saw temperatures approaching or even exceeding 45 degrees, however there are no official weather stations in the state’s southeast corner, where the hottest air was located.

Victoria didn’t quite reach 40°C but it got close with a maximum of 39.3°C at Swan Hill, while Melbourne had its hottest day since March 11 with a top of 32.8°C before a late afternoon southerly change knocked off more than 10 degrees in under an hour.

Tasmania had its first 30-degree day of the spring, with temps just climbing above 30°C at two weather stations in the Hobart area, while Hobart itself reached 29.7°C.

Image: It was a sweaty one in Thargomindah this Wednesday: Source: iStock.

Meanwhile there were stark temperature contrasts between the northern and southern parts of at least two states.

At the same time that it was 45°C at White Cliffs, it was a tick under 15°C at Thredbo Top Station – a real-time temperature gap of 30 degrees.

While elevation obviously played a huge part in the difference between those two NSW stations, that wasn’t the case in Western Australia, where several sea-level Pilbara locations were hovering around 43 or 44 degrees at 1:30pm (AWST), while the South Coastal city of Albany was shivering at around 15°C.

The real-time gap of close to 40 degrees between WA's northwestern and southern coastlines is explained by cool air down south in the wake of a cold front. You can see the temperature contrast on the chart below showing Wednesday’s expected max temps.

Meanwhile the extreme heat in outback SA, Qld and NSW will moderate as the week progresses, but before that happens, Wednesday night and Thursday morning promise to be extremely warm in many locations.

We’ve got a pretty good idea we’ll be talking to you about some remarkably high overnight minimums in our news feed on Thursday morning.

- Weatherzone

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NSW, WA, Qld soar to 45°C as Tas hits 30°C

17:01 AEDT It was a mid-spring scorcher out there in parts of every Australian state and territory this Wednesday afternoon, as an extremely hot airmass spread across the country.